Chapter Summaries

Ayesha initially ordered Sovereign's army to reclaim Adam's cocoon from Knowhere, but changed course after the High Evolutionary ordered her to capture a missing experiment there. Suspecting he was using Sovereign to test a dangerous situation, she chose to send an inquiry and hire mercenaries to investigate Atlas, while Dane turned his attention back to his main body.

• Ayesha learned that Atlas had taken control of Knowhere and mistakenly assumed it was backed by Xandar, so she sent Xandar a stern demand for Adam's cocoon.
• Nova and Falan forwarded Sovereign's letter to Dane, who recognized that Sovereign wanted the cocoon and told Xandar to direct future communications to Atlas.
• After Xandar directed Sovereign to contact Atlas, Ayesha dismissed diplomacy and ordered her army to reclaim the cocoon.
• The High Evolutionary contacted Ayesha and ordered her to capture a missing experimental subject hiding on Knowhere.
• Ayesha suspected the High Evolutionary was using Sovereign to test Knowhere and ordered the army to stand by while she sent an inquiry and hired mercenaries to assess Atlas.
• After Atlas's operations on Knowhere got underway, Dane shifted his focus back to his main body.

Dane and Thor visited Nidavellir, where Dane won the Dwarves’ friendship with gifts of wine and joined their drinking feast. Afterward, Dane showed Eitri a rare mineral, and Eitri identified it as Dagon Stone.

• Thor introduced Dane to Eitri, the King of the Dwarves, and Dane gave the Dwarves barrels of wine.
• The Dwarves fought over the wine until Dane brought out more barrels, then settled down to share them.
• Dane and Thor drank with the Dwarves for several days, and the feast left Nidavellir inactive while everyone recovered.
• Dane tested quantum transmission between his bodies and moved a mineral and Embers of Creation through Utopia Laboratory.
• Dane showed Eitri the mineral, and Eitri recognized it as Dagon Stone.

Dane worked with Eitri to design a reshaping armor made from Dagon Stone and Uru metal, then gave Thor Embers of Creation to help Asgard and build ties with other realms. The armor remained under construction as Thor agreed to contact Vanaheim and Alfheim.

• Eitri studied the Dagon Stone and proposed combining it with Uru metal to create fluid armor that could reshape itself according to Dane’s thoughts.
• Dane approved the design and gave Eitri a blueprint for a close-fitting suit, leaving the dwarves to refine its appearance.
• Dane asked Thor about barren worlds and revealed that he possessed Embers of Creation.
• Thor recognized the substance’s power to restore damaged worlds, and Dane said he wanted to befriend Vanaheim and Alfheim with it.
• Dane gave Thor an ounce of Embers of Creation and suggested it could help Odin.

Dane took over The Collector’s worlds for Atlas and crushed Ravagers who infiltrated Knowhere to hunt him, learning that the Sovereign had placed the bounty. After the fight, he examined a recovered Sling Ring and sensed a thin barrier between himself and the world.

• Thor accepted Dane’s offer of friendship, put away the Embers of Creation, and resolved to help him unite the Nine Realms.
• Dane expanded Atlas’s control over The Collector’s former worlds while Ravagers infiltrated Knowhere to gather information on him.
• Dane confronted the Ravagers and killed all but one, avoiding a deadly Portal attack from a red Naga-like mage.
• Dane learned from the surviving Ravager that the Sovereign had issued the bounty, then let him go.
• Umbrella’s civilian drones cleaned up the battle and delivered a Sling Ring, which Dane examined and sensed could connect him to another realm.

Dane tracked the Guardians of the Galaxy’s fight against Thanos’s forces and watched Ego badly injure Supergiant with psychic power. Dane then captured Supergiant and transferred his main body’s immense psychic power into the clone, leaving her unable to warn Thanos.

• Nebula told Dane that Thanos had sent bioengineered beasts after the Guardians of the Galaxy and that Supergiant was with them.
• Dane used Cortana to watch the battle and saw Ego help the Guardians by destroying the beasts.
• Supergiant attacked Ego psychically, but Ego’s psychic backlash severely injured her and forced her to retreat.
• Dane rammed Assault Craft 30 into Supergiant’s ship, boarded it, and captured her after she failed to damage his armor.
• Dane transferred his main body’s psychic power into his clone, and Supergiant realized she could not send Thanos a warning.

Dane explained Ego’s origins and warned Gamora that Quill might be in danger, while Quill reunited with Ego and learned why his father had left. Quill believed Ego’s account, though their reunion began with anger and ended with Ego telling him about his past.

• Ego left with Quill, and Gamora questioned Mantis after Drax joked about her name.
• Dane told Gamora that Ego was a living planet and an immature Celestial, and that Quill carried demigod blood.
• Dane warned Gamora that Ego might not treat Quill well, while Mantis seemed to know something about the danger.
• Quill woke aboard Ego’s ship, punched him, and then listened as Ego proved he knew Quill’s family.
• Quill beat Ego over years of resentment, then broke down crying as Ego comforted him.
• Ego claimed he had been unable to leave his planet for long, had searched for Quill, and had repeatedly missed him.

After reconciling with Quill, Ego revealed his demigod origins while Dane gathered allies to find them, and Yondu disclosed that Ego had eaten his other children. Yondu arrived to help rescue Quill, but his own crew revolted and threatened to cast prisoners into space.

• Ego and Quill reconciled, and Ego began telling him about his origins and demigod powers.
• Dane agreed to help Gamora find Quill in exchange for her lifelong service, then contacted Yondu and prepared a battle group.
• Yondu arrived and revealed that he had once delivered Ego’s children to him before learning that Ego ate them, so he had kept Quill with him to protect him.
• Yondu attacked Mantis with his Yaka Arrow until Dane stopped him and explained that she had joined their side.
• Yondu’s scar-faced subordinate confronted him on the ship’s boarding ramp as the crew turned against him for repeatedly protecting Quill.

Yondu and the Guardians reached Ego’s planet to rescue Quill, where Yondu exposed Ego’s plan and shot one of his avatars. Ego revealed he could create countless avatars, leaving Yondu, Quill, and Gamora fleeing toward their ship as he threatened that they could not escape.

• Yondu killed Scarface and more than a dozen Ravagers who challenged his leadership, then agreed to help the Guardians confront Ego.
• Dane’s Atlas destroyer joined Yondu’s ship, and the group made roughly a hundred jumps to reach Ego’s planet.
• Ego praised Quill after he awakened his Celestial power, but Yondu arrived and warned him that Ego intended to use him.
• Yondu revealed that Ego had tricked him into delivering children, then shot Ego’s body when it restrained Quill and began reclaiming his power.
• Ego reappeared through countless avatars, and Yondu grabbed Quill and fled with him and Gamora toward the ship.

Yondu’s crew and the Guardians of the Galaxy struggled to escape Ego’s control as Atlas attacked the planet and Dane’s Astartes searched underground for Ego’s brain. Ego confronted Quill and the others, but Gamora’s cannon fire and Mantis’s influence briefly hindered him as the battle continued.

• Ego trapped the Ravager ship with vines and increased the planet’s gravity, forcing Yondu to land again, while Atlas’s bombardment gave the crew a chance to escape the buried ship.
• Yondu urged Quill to control Ego’s creations, but an upheaval of earth swallowed the Guardians and buried them beneath dirt and sand.
• Dane and the Astartes entered Ego’s hollow underground world in modified drop pods to search for his brain.
• An Atlas missile exposed the buried Guardians, and Mantis sensed Ego’s fury before Ego formed a giant body and demanded that Quill surrender his power.
• Gamora fired a ship cannon at Ego while Mantis tried to shift his emotions, prompting Ego to realize her defiance and rage at the group.

Dane used the Mind Stone to take control of Ego, evacuated the Guardians, and moved Ego’s brain to the Utopia Laboratory before Ego’s planet transformed. Thanos learned that Atlas had captured Ego and reconsidered how to pursue his plans, while the Black Order urged him to strike back.

• Dane shrank himself to enter Ego’s lair and used the Mind Stone to overpower and control Ego.
• Quill unleashed his Celestial power against Ego, but Ego’s attack stopped before it could harm the Guardians, revealing that Atlas had used them as bait.
• Dane’s Astartes rescued the Guardians, and he transported Ego’s brain to the Utopia Laboratory, where its divine power was contained and Ego lost his senses.
• Ego’s planet expanded and transformed after his brain was removed, while Dane considered bringing Ego’s brain together with Knowhere’s Celestial skull.
• After confirming Supergiant’s death, Thanos heard the Black Order demand revenge against Atlas, but he dismissed them and privately weighed the threats posed by Dane, the Ancient One, and Odin.

Dane and Eitri completed the intelligent liquid-metal armor Trimurti on Nidavellir, and Dane discovered it could also form a greatsword. Thor arrived just as the armor was finished and admired it, but questioned why it came with a sword.

• Thanos accepted Lady Death’s help after she warned that Dane Davis was far more than an ordinary Earthling, then sent the Dark Order and Sanctuary II toward Vormir to obtain the Soul Stone.
• Dane and Eitri forged three alloy blocks from Dagon Stone, Uru metal, magical runes, and Vanir blessings using the World Forge.
• The molten alloy cooled into intelligent liquid metal, and Dane named it Trimurti, forming a bond with the artifact.
• Trimurti enveloped Dane and became an ornate, fully enclosed suit of armor that could reshape itself into a cross-shaped greatsword.
• Thor arrived on Nidavellir, praised Dane’s new armor, and asked why it came with a greatsword.

Thor proposed a physical duel with Dane and chose Svartalfheim, where the world's dark energy would suppress their other powers and make the fight depend on their bodies, weapons, and skill. Dane agreed, and the three arrived on the desolate world ready to test their strength.

• Thor challenged Dane to a traditional Asgardian duel relying on physical strength and equipment.
• Thor suggested they fight on Svartalfheim, whose dark energy would hinder their use of other powers.
• Dane accepted the proposal, and Eitri insisted on witnessing the historic battle.
• Thor, Dane, and Eitri traveled through the Bifrost to Svartalfheim, where the barren world's energy made their bodies feel heavier and their powers harder to use.
• Thor recalled Dane's physical examination report and believed their natural abilities were comparable, making the duel a chance for both warriors to improve.